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Red Dirt Ramblings®

Firmly rooted in the Oklahoma soil

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Pelargoniums on the move

8 October, 2020 By Dee Nash

by Dee Nash
8 October, 20208 October, 2020Filed under:
  • Fall
  • Flowers
  • Gardening

Greenhouse gardening begins!

Moving-the-jasmine-into-the-greenhouse
Moving my jasmine into the greenhouse. I don’t water these plants for a few days to make them easier to move. They are lighter weight.

The pelargoniums and my other plants are on the move into the greenhouse. I thought I would share my process with you as I move plants back indoors.

Scented geraniums (pelargoniums) are fun to collect.

Nutmeg scented pelargonium (geranium) has such nice blue foliage that seems impervious to heat.
This nutmeg-scented pelargonium (geranium) has such nice blue foliage that seems impervious to heat. It’s a really easy scented geranium to grow.

While scented geraniums and zonal geraniums are fun to collect, they are tropical plants meaning they require overwintering somewhere that is warm.

Pelargoniums fit into the classes of zonal, regal, angel, and ivy-leaved types. Then, there are the scented ones.

Pelargonium types

  • Zonal pelargoniums are the regular ones with the big flowers, the ones your grandmother or mother grew. I like to grow them too, but no pelargoniums really like our Oklahoma summers.
  • Ivy-leafed types need some shade, especially in Oklahoma.
  • Scented pelargoniums usually give you smaller flowers, but they also have scented leaves. They are really tough plants too.
  • Royal or Regal pelargoniums are the Martha Washington types with jagged leaves, and they are often variegated. The angel types are miniature versions of Regal pelargoniums.

Confused yet?

The greenhouse from the front door.
Inside the greenhouse, all will stay warm with two-stage heat. We use both an electric heater and a propane one. We moved the heaters to the other side of the greenhouse last spring, and we need to relocate the wires. The blue wind chime is a nod to my 1970s youth.

I own a collection of scented pelargoniums, and they are now ensconced in the greenhouse where they will overwinter. In spring and summer, they sit on some tiered shelves outside on the north side of the garage. I used to have the tiered shelves next to the greenhouse, but the southern exposure was way too hot. Against the garage, they now have a northern exposure, and all of the tropical plants benefited.

My own version of the pelargonium theater. After I roasted them in the southern sun, I moved them next to the garage this year.

I have always grown a few pelargoniums, but I truly got the addiction after I went to the UK to Beth Chatto’s garden and saw her theater of geraniums. I came right home and went straight down the pelargonium rabbit hole.

Pelargonium display theater in Beth Chatto's garden.
Pelargonium display theater in Beth Chatto’s garden.

As I brought each one indoors, I cut it back by at least half its size. You can see the process from the pictures below.

  • Holding the pelargonium as I cut it back.
  • Cutting back pelargoniums to keep them healthy during winter.
  • After you finish cutting back, be sure to water the scented geranium for best results.
    After you finish cutting back, be sure to water the scented geranium for best results.

Less foliage, fewer problems

I do this to in fall for less foliage to reduce the risk of botrytis blight and give them less stress from leaf expiration. You can also bring them inside your home and place them in a sunny window. Over winter as there is less light, they will look bad, but just cut them back again in spring.

There’s also an old saw about pulling pelargoniums out of the dirt, hanging them upside down indoors–I can’t imagine where– and then repotting in the spring. It’s not a very good idea. Just treat them like ugly houseplants.

They are a bit ugly now, but after the Winter Solstice, they will snap out of their funk and grow abundantly.

Pelargoniums are commonly called geraniums, but they are actually kind of taxonomic cousins. They are all part of the Geraniaceae plant family. True geraniums are perennial and commonly called cranesbills. They grow a bit like tallish ground covers. True geraniums are not always perennial in Oklahoma because of our abundant sunshine and extreme summer heat. So many perennials fit that description here. After 40-plus years of gardening–33 here–I have two perennial geraniums growing in my Little Cedar Garden, G. sanguineum, bloody cranesbill, and ‘Johnson’s Blue’ geranium, although I haven’t looked much at ‘Johnson’s Blue’ this summer. It may now be gone. There’s also some controversy about whether ‘Johnson’s Blue’ still exists in the trade, but I’m not going to get into that kerfuffle.

If you’d like to learn more about geraniums and their care, you can listen to our Gardenangelists’ podcast episode about geraniums and pelargoniums.

Also, Carol Michel and I are doing an online webinar open to everyone titled: An Easy Approach to Sensible Social Media Presence: How to Keep Social Media Platforms from Taking Over Your Life and Business. It’s scheduled for November 5, 2020, at 7 pm EST. Carol and I will tell you about our social media detox and how we are still staying in business as garden communicators. Although it is geared toward our work, it would also benefit anyone who wants to online less these days.

Till we talk again, keep your chins up and keep gardening.

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Tagged:
  • Geraniums
  • Greenhouse
  • Greenhouse gardening
  • Greenhouses
  • Pelargoniums
  • Scented Pelargoniums
  • Tropical foliage
  • Tropical plants
  • tropicals

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Melanie says

    9 October, 2020 at 9:17 am

    I have only one “geranium”, a variegated one, that I love. It’s in the ground. What do you think the chances are that I could dig it up, pot it and overwinter? …I ask, although I’m 90% sure I’ll try it anyway! ?

    • Dee Nash says

      12 October, 2020 at 5:20 pm

      Hi Melanie, I think it would work just fine. Just make sure and put it in the window.~~Dee

  2. Lisa at Greenbow says

    9 October, 2020 at 5:54 am

    I have a list of plants that I would have if I had a greenhouse. Those scented geraniums would be at the top of the list. I used to try to keep some inside the house but it seems that there was never enough light. Just thinking about them makes me think I can smell them. I had a neighbor years ago that did that pull up the geraniums and hanging them in a cool unused room of her house. She potted them up every spring and they were quite beautiful. I guess you just have to have the right conditions. It seems a little extreme to me. Cheers.

    • Dee Nash says

      12 October, 2020 at 5:21 pm

      Hey Lisa, I know! I knew people who did that too. I cannot imagine why it works at all. Some things defy logic.

  3. Sonia says

    8 October, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    I love pelargoniums/gerainums and have some I overwinter in my tiny greenhouse. They are the zonal types but I love when they bloom in the winter…such a burst of color on drab days. I have been wanting to get some scented plants, just haven’t run across any for sale so I will have to look next year. I bought some Johnson Blue years ago from a catalog ..I think Springhill or Bluestone…it was before there was online websites!! LOL I’m amazed it has lasted this long. Thanks for all the great information as always!

    • Dee Nash says

      12 October, 2020 at 5:22 pm

      Hi Sonia, I went and looked, and my Johnson’s Blue geranium finally disappeared. Oh well. These things happen. I think I bought mine way before there were websites too.~~Dee

  4. Ann says

    8 October, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    Do you root your cuttings?

    • Dee Nash says

      12 October, 2020 at 5:23 pm

      Hi Ann, are you asking if I root my cuttings in water first? I do not. I’ll do a post this week about growing cuttings. Hope it helps.~~Dee

  5. Carol says

    8 October, 2020 at 11:58 am

    Dangerous post… because now I want to get some pelargoniums to overwinter!

    • Dee Nash says

      12 October, 2020 at 5:23 pm

      Hey Carol, always ready to enable at the drop of a hat.~~Dee

Trackbacks

  1. How to take stem cuttings of favorite plants - Red Dirt Ramblings® says:
    15 October, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    […] my last post on pelargoniums, several people asked me how to take stem cuttings of favorite plants for the greenhouse or to grow […]

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